King Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great, as all history students know, was given shelter
by a peasant lady when avoiding the Danish invaders. The lady told
him to watch the cakes that were baking on the hearth while she went
out. He was so preoccupied with his troubles with the kingdom and the
marauding Danes that he forgot the cakes and they were burned. She
gave him a tongue lashing, not realising that he was her King. He
took it like a man and admitted that it was his fault.

Alfred comes to the throne

Alfred was born in 849 at Wantage in Oxfordshire. His parents were King Ethelwulf and Queen Osburga of Wessex. He had three elder brothers and in 856, Ethelwulf was deposed by his son Ethelbald. Civil war was imminent and the politicians met in council to work out a compromise. Ethelbald would rule over the western shires, traditional Wessex, and Ethelwulf would rule in the east. King Ethelwulf died in 858, and Wessex was ruled by the three of Alfred's brothers in succession.

In 868, Alfred fought beside his brother, Ethelred in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the invading Danes out of the adjoining Kingdom of Mercia. Then, at the end of 870, the Danes arrived in Alfred's territory. There followed a year of battles. Nine battles were fought against the Danes.

In Berkshire, a successful result at the battle of Edgefield on 31 December 870 was followed by a defeat at the Battle of Reading on 5 January 871; then, four days later, Alfred won a brilliant victory at the Battle of Ashdown. Alfred is particularly credited with the success of this battle. Later that month, on 22 January, the English were defeated at Basing and, on the 22 March at the Battle of Merton in which Ethelred was killed. This period was the lowest in the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. With all the other kingdoms having fallen to the Vikings, Wessex alone was still resisting. There were other battles that happened in between these major ones, but these are not recorded. When King Ethelred died, Alfred succeeded to the throne of Wessex, on a prior agreement with Ethelred that whoever outlived the other would rule. Ethelred had two sons, Ethelhelm and Ethelwold, but they were both children so they were not considered for the monarchy.

Many battles

While Alfred was involved with the burial ceremony for his
brother, the Danes struck again and defeated the English in his
absence. He hurried to Wilton when news came that the Danes were
about to attack the town. Alfred was defeated at Wilton and any
remaining hope that Alfred could drive the invaders from his kingdom
was dashed. He was obliged to do a deal with them. The terms of the
peace are not known. What is known is that the Danes vacated Wessex
and took up winter quarters in Mercian London.

It is assumed that Alfred paid the Vikings to leave, as the
Mercians had to do in the following year. Finds of gold coin dating
to the Viking occupation of London in 871/2 have been excavated at
Croydon, Gravesend, and Waterloo Bridge and these finds hint at the
amount of money involved in making peace with the Vikings. The next
five years were fairly peaceful with the Danes occupying other parts
of England. Then in 876 their new leader, Guthrum, and his army
attacked Wareham in Dorset and set themselves up in the town. Alfred
set up a blockade but was unable to take Wareham by assault. He
therefore negotiated peace which involved an exchange of hostages and
oaths, the Danes swearing on a holy ring associated with their
worship of Thor. This meant nothing to the Danes, however, as they
broke their word, killed all the hostages and slipped away under
cover of darkness to Exeter. Alfred blockaded them again and as the
Danish fleet of reserves had been scattered by a storm, the Danes
were forced into submission. They withdrew to Mercia, but, in January
878, they again made a sudden attack on Alfred's royal stronghold in
Chippenham where Alfred had been staying over Christmas. King Alfred
and a small band of men made their way through the woods and swamps
and made a fort at Athelney in the marshes of Somerset, where he led
skirmishes upon the Danish invaders. From this fort in the marshes
Alfred was able to mount an effective resistance movement.

In May of 878, Alfred rode to a
meeting of the people of Somerset, Wiltshire and a part of Hampshire
and they planned an offensive, raising an army from the three shires.
The king had the loyalty of his Earldormen, royal reeves and king’s
thegns and they were charged with levying and leading their forces in
answer to Alfred’s summons to war. Alfred won a decisive victory
in the ensuing Battle of Ethandun which was fought near Westbury in
Wiltshire. He pursued the Danes to their headquarters at Chippenham
and starved them into submission. A term of surrender that Alfred
insisted on was that Guthrum convert to Christianity, and three weeks
later the Danish king and 29 of his chiefs were baptised at Alfred's
court at Aller, near Athelney, where Alfred received Guthrum as his
spiritual son. Guthrum then fulfilled his promise to leave Wessex.
There is no evidence that Alfred and Guthrum agreed upon a formal
treaty at this time but Guthrum incorporated the eastern part of
Mercia into an enlarged kingdom of East Anglia. Alfred was to have
control over the Mercian city of London.

For the next few years there was peace,
with the Danes being kept busy in France. The Danes raided Kent in
884 or 885 but were successfully repelled, causing the East Anglian
Danes to rise up. Alfred quickly put down this rebellion which
culminated in the re-taking of London in 886. Alfred's restoration of
the city entailed reoccupying and refurbishing the nearly deserted
Roman walled city, buildings and quays along the Thames, and laying
out a new city street plan. It is probably at this point that Alfred
assumed the new royal style 'King of the Anglo-Saxons.'

Finally Peace

After another lull, in the autumn of 892 or 893, the Danes
attacked again. Finding their position in Europe precarious, they
crossed to England in 330 ships in two divisions. They divided
themselves into two bodies, the larger body at Appledore in Kent and
a lesser body at Milton, also in Kent. The invaders brought women and
children with them, indicating an all out attempt at conquest and
colonization. Alfred took up a position where he could observe both
of these forces. While he was in talks with the Danes at Milton, the
Appledore Danes broke out and travelled to the northwest. They were
overtaken by Alfred's oldest son, Edward and were defeated in a
battle at Farnham in Surrey. They took refuge on an island in the
river where they were blockaded and had to submit.

Alfred had been on his way to relieve his son when he heard that
the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes were attacking Exeter. He
hurried westward and raised a siege at Exeter. Meanwhile the force at
Milton set out to march up to the west, but they were met by a large
force of the three Earldormen of Mercia, Wiltshire and Somerset and
made to head off to the northwest, being finally overtaken and
blockaded at Buttington. An attempt to break through the English
lines was defeated. Those who escaped retreated to Shoebury. They
gathered reinforcements and made a dash across country to Chester.
The English did not attempt a blockade but instead destroyed all the
supplies in the area. The Danes retreated to Essex, then sailed their
ships North to Bridgenorth. The next year, 896 or 897, they gave up
the struggle. Many of them retired to Northumbria, some to East
Anglia, but those who longed for home sailed to Europe.

The next four years were years of hard work. After the devastation
to the country caused by the Danes there was a lot to do. Churches
were rebuilt, towns and cities remodelled and universities opened.
The people got back to studying and learning, building and teaching.

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